TIP #1: Focus more on changing your behavior, than on your results.
Whenever people lose weight, lower body fat, drop inches, or experience positive health changes, it’s very tempting to high-five them. There are however, risks of doing this.
Results are somewhat unpredictable. Therefore, it doesn’t make sense to praise metrics because metrics are fickle and people have limited control over them.
On the other hand, behaviors are controllable, and consistent behaviors often lead to long-term, sustainable outcomes.
So, next time when you praise your changed behaviors (instead of your outcomes), you (and the people around you) will associate taking action and showing up — instead of dropping numbers on the scale — with smiles and high-fives.
TIP #2: Change the system, not the symptom.
We often think that changing behavior is about motivation or willpower. But, more often, it’s simply about changing the environment.
When I was in the military, I had to wake up very early for training sessions. Sometimes I would have died to stay in bed a few minutes longer, but being even a few minutes late could mess up my whole team’s schedule. Instead of trying to muster more motivation to get out of my warm bed and into the cold, dark night, I simply moved my alarm clock across the room.
I had to leap out of bed as soon as it went off before it would wake my roommates up. Problem solved, no willpower needed.
Before you try to wrestle more motivation or willpower out of your yourself, see if you can change your environment to something that more naturally and easily support your goals.
Tip #3: Address your stress levels first.
At some point in your life, you’ve probably said some version of this:
“I was doing great with my… but then this thing happened and I got stressed / overwhelmed / busy and I stopped.”
There’s a reason for this: It’s neurobiology.
Research has found that stress literally changes the parts of your brain involved in decision making, pushing us away from goal-directed behavior (“I do this and I lose weight”) in the direction of habitual behavior (“Me tired, me stay on couch”).
No amount of lecturing or motivating will break the cycle of a bad habit.
If stress is a never-ending consistency blocker, try implementing some stress-calibrating techniques. Managing stress will not only have physiological benefits, but these psychological ones too.
Tip #4: Separate the person from the problem.
You may have noticed that you will very often tell others what you “are”, for example, “I’m a sugar addict” or “I’m a failure”.
Notice the grammatical construction: I AM a thing. I AM a *label*.
Re-wording this identity crisis by separating the person from the problem, may just be the solution you are looking for; e.g. instead of validating what you “are”, start saying:
“I struggle with sugar.” Or “Ihad a few setbacks.”
Now the problem is something you have, not something you are.
Using language to untangle the problem from the person isn’t a quick fix but, over time, it will gives you the space that’s needed to see challenges objectively and work toward overcoming them.
Tip #5: Turn knowledge into action.
Many people already know what to do to change a habit, like to get healthier. They just struggle with doing it consistently.
Behavior can’t develop without first having the knowledge to inform it. Unfortunately, most people stop at knowledge and feel like they’re done — as if behavior magically follows knowledge.
People then often express frustration when knowledge hasn’t brought them their desired state, and inaccurately believe that the issue will be resolved by knowing more.
Progress-stalled people who seem to want to focus on, for example, granular nutrition topics, might be caught in this “knowledge trap”. To help you start doing, work with set behavior-oriented goals that build toward your desired outcome.
